Down the Dragon's Nest
by obscureuser
Summary: What if Asuna wasn't the one to tell Kirito about Lisbeth? How differently would things have gone for the pink-haired blacksmith and black-haired swordsman? Main pairing is KiritoxLisbeth, rated M to be safe. Possible one-shot. I don't own Sword Art Online, nor the cover picture.


**Author's Note: Hey, guys! It's Obscureuser! Since my "Beater and the Black Cats" story is doing fairly well, I thought I'd make an attempt to expand my audience with a second story and different pairing: KiritoxLisbeth. Personally, I think that the pairing is extremely underrated, and so I thought I'd add to the stories written on the pair. Not too sure how far I'll go with this story, or if I'll make more than one chapter, so let me know how chapter 1 is and I'll see where that leads to. A rather large part of the story is pretty much taken straight from Episode 7 with a few parts added to make the story run a bit more smoothly. No worries, there are plenty of parts I wrote myself. I don't own any part of Sword Art Online, unfortunately. The material from the anime I used in the story belongs not to me, but to its well respected owners. On with the story!**

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><p><strong>24 June 2024<br>****Floor 55, Western Mountain**

"Ahh...! It's beautiful!" The pink haired blacksmith exclaimed as she admired her many reflections in the large, silver crystals. There were many of those for at least a hundred meters around us. A cluster of the crystals at least twenty meters high towered over everything. _My god, she almost looks like a child.. Wait, who are you to be talking? You were 14 when this god forsaken mess started._

"Ah, hey! What's your problem?!" She snapped after I stopped her from running off.

"You should get your teleport crystal ready. We don't want any surprises," I told her, unfazed by her tone.

"Hmm... Alright, alright, I'm doing it.."

"And I'm handling this part on my own. Once the dragon appears, you're going to hide behind one of those crystals over there. Don't come out no matter what."

"Oh, come on! I'm not a noob! If I wanna help you, I'll darn well-"

"Just do what I say!" I exclaimed in a tone more harsh than I intended. She flinched at my sudden outburst. _Come on, Kirito.. your intentions are well, so show her._

A silent nod is what I got in response.

"Good," I said with a reassuring smile and a pat to her head. "Okay, let's get going."

Shortly after I began walking again, a deafening roar erupted from the tower, shaking the ground around us.

"Hurry up and take cover!" I point her to a set of nearby crystals.

A large, white dragon emerged from the hill, stretching its wings as it takes flight.

**_X'yrphan the White_****_ Wyrm _**Its display name read. Three health bars came up next to it.

_Alright, let's see what you got_.

An inaudible scream came from Lisbeth's direction as a blue orb formed at the dragon's mouth, releasing a bright blue beam.

Just before the beam hit me, I released a Horizontal skill, sending the attack off to my right side. A large explosion rose from the ground followed by a loud _boom._

_Come on, is that all you got?! _I went on the offensive and began releasing skill after skill on the mini boss, quickly wearing down its HP. After taking down its first health bar, I waited back to look for a new attack pattern. Sure enough, X'yrphan flew away and turned back in my direction, probably looking to slash me with one of its ten giant claws. Seeing an opportunity, I charged my Sonic Leap skill, waiting for the dragon to come within range. I released it as soon as he came within range, his left arm shattering with the blow.

"Come on! Quit playing around with it and finish it off already!" Lisbeth called while she came up out of cover.

_Shit! What's she doing?!_ "Damn it! Don't come out!"

Suddenly, the White Wyrm changed turned its attention away from me and began targeting Liz. After a strong flap of his wings, tons of snow and debris began flying in her direction. In spite of her efforts to run away, the avalanche caught up with her and began dragging her with it. _Damn it! Please_ stay_ alive! _

Once I landed, I used one of the mounds as a launch pad and jumped towards the blacksmith to try to save her. _I'm NOT letting another party member die on me!_

To make things worse, she was thrown over and into a large, deep opening in the ground and began falling fast. Following her in, I began to make my body straight as an arrow to fall faster. A few seconds went by before Liz appeared in my line of sight again, giving off a high pitched scream. _Just. A. Little. Farther! YES! _

"Hang onto me, Liz!" I screamed as I pulled her into an embrace. With her holding me with a vice grip, I got my sword and stabbed it into the wall to slow us down. There was hardly a difference at first, but a moment later we began to decelerate at a decent rate. The last thing I remembered seeing was a small circle of sky above us and a pink head of hair in my shoulder before everything went black.

"A-are we still alive..?" I muttered when I finally came to. I took a look at my HP gauge to see about 30% remaining. _Man.. my head hurts... hell, everything hurts... There's no chance we would've survived that in real life._

"Yeah.. looks like it.." Lisbeth answered, obviously shaken up. _At least I took the bulk of the damage.. Otherwise she might not have made it.._

"Drink one of these just in case," I materialized two high-level potions and handed one to Liz, taking the other for myself. Slowly but surely, our HP went back into the green.

"Thank you.. you know, for saving me.."

"It's a little soon for any thanking.." I begun as I looked around. The hole we fell in was a near-perfect cylinder with a base of about ten meters and an astonishing height. "We have to find a way to get out of here first."

"Can't we just teleport out?" Liz suggested as she pulled out the blue prism. "Teleport, Lindas! No way..!" She sighed after nothing happened.

"Well if we can't teleport, there should be another way out," I stood up and took another look around. _Wait... what if I..?_

"How can you be so sure there is? I mean, what if this is some kind of trap meant to kill anyone who falls into it?"

"Good point, maybe it is.." I concurred.

"Hmm! Would it kill you to at least _try_ to cheer me up?!" she snapped.

_Idiot, it's not going to work.. _"I think I have an idea.."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we could try running up the wall."

"... you're insane..."

"Maybe, but that's all I got for ideas right now." Without a second thought, I began a full on sprint to one of the sides and began running up the wall. _Come on, you can do it..! Just.. a.. little... _

_**SLIP**_

_Aww no.._

"Wwwwwoooooooooaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" I screamed as I fell back to the bottom. _Aww man, what'd I land on?!_

_**THUD** _

"Ahh..." I began pulling myself out of a swordsman-shaped hole in the snow. "If I had more of a running start, I would've made it.."

"Yeah.. I don't think so.."

"Oh, shut up..."

Since it was the early evening when I began fighting the White Dragon, the sun set shortly after my meager attempt at escaping. I materialized some basic cookware from my inventory along with a few ingredients and began working with my nonexistent cooking skill to make dinner. We talked a little bit as we ate, me telling stories from the front lines and her talking about how crazy her fans get over her.

"Wait, so some of your customers would spend hours at your shop and have you upgrade _all_ their armor?!"

"Yup, I had one particular customer even have me fix his starting armor, you know, the set everyone got when they first logged on?"

"Wow, what some guys would do to be around a girl.." I sighed.

"Mm hmm," she nodded, "on the bright side, that probably means I'm well known among a lot of players. It's a real headache sometimes, though."

"Oh yeah, try having everyone who knows your name hurl insults at you everywhere you go."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing.." _I don't want another person to give me hell for being in their presence._

"Oh, okay... Hey, it's getting a little cold and kinda late... do you think we should get some sleep?" Lisbeth asked, rubbing her arms for warmth.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Do you have a sleeping bag?"

"Ummm... well... no.." she answered shyly with her head down.

"Why don't you have a bag? Don't you go with your customers to get materials every now and then?"

"Well yeah, but that never took longer than a few hours.."

"Okay then, hold on for a second." I navigated through my menu and materialized a lantern and two black sleeping bags.

"Here you go. Sorry if you're not a fan of the color, but it's what I have."

"Thanks, Kirito.. Wait, why do you have two sleeping bags?"

"For emergencies. Since the sleeping bags count as clothing, the durability runs out after a while, so there's that. In this case, I'm partying with a player who doesn't have one. It's the first time the latter happens, though." A short nod was what I got in response.

We set up the two bags rather quickly about a meter away from each other with the lantern in the middle. Light snowfall managed to find its way into the hole/trap/whatever the hell this thing is and land all around us. We were both on our backs and looking up at the sky, waiting for sleep to take us over.

"You know, this is kinda weird, isn't it?" Lisbeth began, breaking the silence, "This wouldn't happen in real life. You know, going to strange places, meeting a total stranger, and then sleeping next to them. I mean, you actually tried running up that wall!" she continued with a giggle. "You really are a weirdo, you know that?"

"Well, excuse me," I said as a matter of factly. I didn't really like how that ended up happening. As for the part about sleeping near a 'stranger'...

"Kirito, can I ask you something?"

"Ask away, I'm all ears."

"Why did you risk you life like that to save me.?" she asked as she sat up.

I thought of a good response for a moment: "I can't just sit back and let somebody die. I'd rather die alongside them than do nothing. Especially if that someone's a girl like you, Liz." A smile spread across my face as I finished.

She returned the smile before responding. "Wow, you really are an idiot. You're the only person who'd think like that."

"Hey... hold me..? I-I'm feeling pretty cold down here.." She broke the silence a moment later.

_Wait, what?! First, she calls me an idiot, then she wants me to hold her? Come on, Kirito, she doesn't mean it like that. She said she was cold._

"I-I'm sorry?" I turned to the blacksmith as I asked. _I need to make sure I heard that right.._

"Can you... hold me..? I'm feeling pretty cold.. and.. I just... *sigh* You don't have to if you don't want to.." she began turning away, interpreting my silence as rejection.

"Hey, hey, it's fine. It's no problem at all," I said reassuringly, sitting up to adjust the sleeping bags. Once we found a way to 'combine' the two items, I materialized an extra blanket for added protection. Lisbeth and I crawled inside and tried to find a way to make it work. At first, it was a bit awkward when I tried holding her, but we were both able to get comfortable after a moment. The final result: Lisbeth on my right side, my arm and shoulder acting as a pillow while our free arms wrapped around the other. _This feels a lot better than I expected it to be.._

"Ah.. it's so warm... Even though you and me are a bunch of 1's and 0's in this virtual world."

"I know," I responded. "Goodnight, Lisbeth. Sleep tight, have yourself a good dream."

"You too. Night."

I closed my eyes and tried falling asleep. Before I could cross over into Dream Land, Lisbeth's voice broke the silence.

"You know, when I first learned that we couldn't escape, I never thought I'd fall asleep in the arms of a stranger."

_Wait, is she talking to conscious Kirito, or does she think I'm asleep? Guess I better listen and find out._

"Damn it, Liz, don't do this.. it's just a quest.. once we get out of here, I'll make his sword and probably never see him again.."

_Wow, okay. Let's just pretend those words didn't just sting like hornets._

"But he's not one of those creeps who's completely infatuated with me. If he really wanted to try something, he would've by now. *sigh* It's weird, though. Despite not knowing him, I feel so safe and warm in his arms.." She loosened her grip as her words died away. "Goodnight, my swordsman." I felt a pair of lips peck my cheek before I heard her continue: "Sorry, but I just felt like doing that.. as a thanks for everything. Sleep tight." I waited for her to return her head to my shoulder before I opened my eyes and tried to process what happened in the past few moments. First, the girl who I teased (probably a bit excessively) asked if I could hold her for the night since she was cold. Next, she concludes I'm not some random creep and says she'll never see me again. Finally, she says she likes being held, kisses me, and calls me hers. Damn, girls can be really confusing._ Oh shut up and enjoy it, Kirito...__ at least she's not making it hell on the snowing mountain for you. *yawn* _Without thinking, I tightened my grip on Liz and drifted off to sleep.

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><p>*yawn* <em>Morning<em> _already?_ I looked over at the girl next to me, finding her still asleep. _Wow.. she looks so... peaceful.. __Well, time to get up and think of a way out of here.._ After the short setback of Lisbeth's sleeping death grip, I got up and put my bag away and tucked the dormant player into hers.

_Ahh what to do.. what to do... well, I could try running up the wall again... no... that won't work. I could try something I saw in a video game.. after all, that's what this is. _

I remembered the time one of my aunt's brothers came over one holiday and brought his old cube-shaped console and a game that took place on a resort called Isle Delfino. During part of the story, the Italian plumber would jump to one wall, kick off to the wall on the other side, and repeat until he got to where he needed.

_Hell, why not? It worked in 2002, so why can't it work in 2024?_

I used the room I had for a running start, then I was on my way. I cleared the first few meters in the jump, and as soon as I hit the side, I kicked off. After repeating this a few times, I was able to get about a third of the way up. _Come on! Just keep it up... you're... making... progRRRREEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! _

_**THUD**_

_Aww crap... my ankle is killing me! Damn it! I just HAD to find the ONE spot where the rock and ice was slippery! No need to worry about that, it'll fill up in a few minutes._ In the fall, I lost about 15% of my HP. I looked down inside the hole I created when I landed and tried to find out what caused the throbbing pain in my leg. A short moment later, I came across the thing that I landed on. It was about the size of an American football, but it was almost shaped like a cone. It was too hard to be ice, and it certainly wasn't a crystal. Since I didn't have any points put to my appraisal skill, I had to use my deductive reasoning to figure out what this thing was. _Okay, this isn't a trap, since no mobs have bothered showing up. The developers wouldn't put a huge hole in the ground without a good reason, but what would this be? The dragon's nest, perhaps? If that's the case, what's this?_ I suddenly remembered what Lisbeth said back at her store: _'The dragon eats crystals and the rare metal is found in its stomach...' Then that makes this..._

"Whatcha doing?" Lisbeth asked from behind me. _When did she wake up?_

Without saying a word I showed her the bluish-white _thing_ I dug up.

"I-is this what I think it is..?" She pulled up an appraisal window. 'Crystallite Ingot' was the name of the item.

"Mm hmm. It's that special metal we came all the way here for. Like you said, the dragon eats crystals, and then they turn to this in its stomach. Haha, no wonder it's hard to find," I laughed as I tossed her the material. _Let's see how she reacts to this_.

"Yeah, but you found it. What's it doing down here, though?"

"This hole isn't a trap like we thought, it's the dragon's nest."

"R-really?"

"Yup. And that's not just an ingot, that's dragon excrement. You know, poop."

She looked back and forth at the ingot and me a few times before she made the connection.

"Uh? Ahh!" I caught the ingot as she threw it in the air in disgust._  
><em>

"Well, I guess that means we got what we came here for. Still stuck, though."

"Wait, this is supposed to be a dragon's nest, right? 'Cause dragons are nocturnal, so it won't be long before it comes... down..." We both looked up at the nest's opening as her words died down. Sure enough, the same dragon I nearly killed the day before showed up, arm missing and all.

"It's here!" She wailed. Acting quickly, I scooped up Liz on my shoulder, drew my Elucidator, and ran up the wall. This time, instead of falling, I did a backflip off of the rock and ice onto the White Wyrm.

"Hang onto me, Liz!" I screamed as I stuck my sword into the dragon's upper back. With a roar, X'yrphan began flying back up to the top, Lisbeth screaming the whole way up. _Agh... almost there! _

After clearing the entrance, the dragon made an abrupt stop. Thanks to a law written by dear Sir Newton, Liz and I kept flying upwards at break-neck speeds. I reached my free hand out to her so we wouldn't get separated in the free fall.

"Kirito! You know what?!" She screamed over the wind as she took my hand.

"No! What?!"

"Don't freak out, but I think I'm falling in love with you!"

_Wait, did I hear her correctly?!_

"I can't hear a thing! What did you just say?!"

She pulled me into a tight embrace before answering. "Nothing! Never mind!"

Before we came close to the ground, I pulled out a teleport crystal and sent us back to Lindas. She was awfully quiet on the way back to her shop. I guess she's trying to make sense of everything that's happened in the last 24 hours. As soon as we entered her shop, the NPC clerk clocked out for his break and walked out the door. _Where's the NPC going? It's not like they have anything better to do. Ah, whatever. _We went to the back of her shop where she does her smithing and got the fire going. I sat back while I watched the magic happen.

"One-handed long sword, right?"

"Yup, and make it awesome."

She equipped her work gloves and hammer and began striking the white-hot ingot. A dozen strikes went into the rare metal before it started shining with a brilliant light. For a few seconds, the two of us were blinded until the light died down. Resting on the table in place of the metal was a long, bluish white sword.

"The sword is called 'Dark Repulsor', one of a kind. And it's not even in the info broker's directory. Go on, try it," She told me as she closed the appraisal window.

"Okay." I picked up the sword and swung at the air a few times. The weight was perfect, length was better than I expected, and it's about as strong as my Elucidator. Looks like all the trouble we went through to get the materials was worth it.

"Good..?" She after my last swing.

"... It's really heavy.. it's perfect!"

"Yes!" Lisbeth cheered.

"I couldn't ask for a better sword, it's almost like you forged your soul into it," I admired. It's a good thing Klein recommended her to me, any other smith probably would've screwed up in making it. As soon as I bought a scabbard from her for the new sword, I began thinking about the price. _Oh crap! The price! *sigh* she's probably going to charge me an arm and a leg for all the trouble and teasing..._

"Okay, you held up your end of the deal, it's time for me to pay up. So how much is the sword?" _40,000 col? 50,000 after all the teasing and trouble?_

"Umm.. well... I don't really need any.. money.. instead, I'd like to be your exclusive blacksmith from now on.."

"What do you mean 'exclusive'?" I asked. When she looked like she was having trouble speaking, I asked her if anything was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong.. I mean... any time you get back from the front lines, stop by and let me be the one to do maintenance on your gear. Every day without fail! From now to the end."

My face grew a few shades of pink from her request. _So.. that means she wants me to come by at least once per day until the game is cleared? _"Liz.. I..."

"Kirito.. I.. I just.." she reached for my hand and took it in hers, then threw her arms around me and held on tight without saying a word.

"Hey, what's wrong? Recovering from yesterday..?" I asked her, returning her hug. It's not unusual for me to see a delayed reaction from someone who almost died in the game, I've seen plenty of clearers crying their eyes out even days after a rough boss fight.

"In a way..." she began, resting her head on my shoulder, "there's something I need to say.. but I'm just afraid about what'll happen if I say it.."

"Don't worry, I won't think less of you no matter what it is. I'll tell you what, you tell me what's on your mind, and I'll tell you something you probably didn't know about me."

She looked up and gave me a curious look, "Hmm... maybe... but you have to go first, and I get to ask the question." _What ever happened to 'Ladies first?_

"Ah, why not. Ask away."

"Why did you wanna get a second sword when you already have one of the strongest ones in the game?"

_Wow, didn't see that one coming.. I was thinking she'd ask my real name or something like that.._ *sigh* "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone about this.." I reluctantly answered.

"I wasn't planning to, but okay," She responded.

I stood up from where we were sitting and began navigating through my menu.

_Player Profile/_

_Skills/_

_Dual_ Blades

I clicked on the unique skill and another window popped up:

_Activate? (O) Yes (X)_ No

_*sigh* Is it worth it.? Well, it's about time you told somebody about it. Besides, she already promised she wouldn't tell anybody. _With another sigh, I selected 'Yes' and picked up both swords.

"What are you doing? I thought you were gonna tell me?"

"You'll know the answer, but it's easier if I show you." I made sure to keep an eye on her as I moved a few meters away.

_Okay, here goes nothing.._

"Double Circular!" I commanded after I got into position. The next instant, the two swords glowed with a brilliant blue light as the blades made their semi circle from eye level to the floor. I stood with the swords in their final position for a few seconds before turning back to the blacksmith. "Well, there you have it; I can use sword skills with two blades."

"H-how? The system doesn't allow a player to equip two weapons at the same time, let alone use sword skills with them!"

"Well, it's a skill I obtained about a month ago. It just kinda showed up in my list. Since I didn't complete a quest or anything to get it, I never told anyone about it. It's already bad enough that most of the people I encounter hate me, but if they found out I had a unique skill like that, nobody would believe me when I tell them how I got it. You really won't tell anyone..?"

"Trust me, Kirito. I won't tell anyone.."

"Thanks.. it really means a lot. Well, your turn. So what was on your mind? If something was bothering you that much, you shouldn't bottle it in." I told her. Her face went back to shy and fearful.

"You just don't get it... Since the game started, I was just waiting for the next floor to clear until the assault team got to 100. In the mean time, I picked up blacksmithing so I could do what I could to help those clearing the game instead of rotting away and doing nothing." _Where's she going with this? _"And.. so.. to help the time in the game be livable, I tried making friends with people to make this world feel somewhat real, but nobody could make that feeling come.." A few tears started running down her face while she talked. Without thinking, I rushed over and put my arm around her to comfort her. "Kirito.. please don't freak out at this.. but.. I... I think I might be in love with you.. Weird, right..? We've known each other for a couple of days and you're hearing this.. It's okay if you reject me.. I wouldn't blame you at all... but.. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I kept something like this from you. Whenever I'm around you, I feel like I can be myself around you. Despite my reactions, I kinda liked being teased by you... even when you had me hold the dragon's.. you know. Looking back on it, I enjoyed every second we spent together.. You're the first person I fell in love with both in this world and the real one.. I don't blame you if you don't want me.. I know there are a lot of better looking and better skilled girls than me.." She turned her head down and stopped talking, her tears falling at a much faster rate.

_Okay, I figured she had a crush on me or something after the 'my swordsman' thing and kissing my cheek, but I never expected her to feel _this_ strongly for me... Damn it, what do I do..? I mean, I do think she's really cute (then again, about 95% of her customers do), fun to tease, and wants to be my personal smith even after knowing who I really am.. _I felt a stab of guilt pierce my chest. _Damn it, Kirito! Why do you have to do this? You realize how much of a jerk you can be? Here she is pouring out her feelings for you and you have nothing to say! Say something, you idiot!_

"Liz... I... I don't know what to say.." _Really?! That's all you have?! There's gotta be something you can do to cheer her up._ I pulled her in for a hug and turned her to face me. "I can't say that I didn't know, but I didn't think you felt as strongly as you just said. Honestly, I do like you quite a bit, but I'm just afraid of getting close to anybody.. I'm a solo player because I don't get along with people too well. The last time I was close to somebody, I made a huge promise I couldn't keep. Since then, I've kept mostly to myself. Even though I got used to being a solo player after that, I'm glad to have spent the past couple of days with you. Before falling into the nest, I thought it'd be better to just die in this world than survive day after day, but, when we landed on the bottom, I was really happy that both of us were still alive. I realized our lives have as much meaning here as they did in the real world. I wanted to thank you for helping me realize that," I finished. _Oh no... she's still looking pretty sad.. well... there's probably one thing you can do...__  
><em>

I took a moment to plan out my actions and hope for the best. Without wasting a moment, I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before I looked back at her. "That was for last night. Maybe in time, I'll be your swordsman, but I'm not quite ready to be really close to somebody yet."

Her face instantly turned a really dark shade of pink at my actions and words. "W-what do you mean by t-that..?"

"I'm sorry, Liz. I was still awake when that happened. It's how I figured you had some feelings for me. I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Y-you... Wait.. where are you going..?" she asked in a longing tone as I headed for the door.

"To the highest dungeon. I have to go put the best swords in Aincrad to good use so I can come back and have my exclusive blacksmith fix them," I answered with a smile.

_You know, she's right. You are an idiot._

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Hey, guys! I'm really sorry for those who've been waiting for me to update "Beater and the Black Cats", I have yet to begin chapter 4. Hopefully, I'll get that done within the next ten days or so, it's just that the inspiration for me to write a story on this pairing was too strong and I felt the need to get this all written out before it went away. Not the best I could've done, but I've been up the better part of the night finishing this up. Sorry for the bland title, I couldn't think of anything good, so if anyone has any better ideas, I'm more than happy to hear them. If there's something you loved or hated with a strong, burning passion, please tell me via PM or review so I can try and do something about it. I hope you guys understood which game and console I was referring to after Kirito woke up, it was practically all I did after I got it when I was 8. Remember to follow, favorite, and review! Thanks for reading, Obscureuser out!<strong>


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